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Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Episode 167

by Amy McNulty,

How would you rate episode 167 of
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations ?
Community score: 4.2

Following a devastating defeat at the hands of Deepa, Team 7 takes a week to lick its wounds and prep for the fight ahead. Following his brief stint in Sage Mode, Mitsuki is taken to Orochimaru, while Boruto and Sarada have their wounds treated by Sakura and Shizune. With Victor and Deepa gearing up for the next stage of their plan, Konohamaru and Mugino make preparations to infiltrate Victor's company and expose the villains' machinations. Although all signs point to Boruto and Sarada forcing their sensei to allow them to tag along, both genin acknowledge that they're ill-prepared to face enemies of this caliber. In order to power up, Boruto seeks Sasuke's tutelage, but his master has already committed to training his daughter. With Naruto unavailable to oversee his son's training, the job falls upon the only other person in the village who's able to use the Rasengan: Kakashi.

Thanks to its seemingly endless number of episodes, a long-running series like Boruto has sufficient time to really focus on the “abyss” part of the hero's journey, where the main character is at their lowest point after suffering a defeat. An entire episode devoted to Boruto and Sarada feeling the sting of defeat might not fly in a more condensed story, but it works well here. Neither dwells in despair for very long, and both have the strength of purpose to avoid wallowing in despair—or perhaps they serve as inspiration to one another. That being the case, their secretive behavior around friends and family is a bit odd—more like it's just for drama's sake that it seems like they're going to run off foolhardily—but perhaps they worry they'd be told to rest and wait before they dive back in to training.

Despite being a fairly serious installment, episode 167 features some effective moments of levity. A bored Yubina conveniently pining for a fresh challenge, only to have Team 7 literally crash land outside of her clinic, is an amusing (if not predictable) note for the episode to open on. Having made a splash in her previous appearances, it might have been fun to see Yubina get a chance to work on Team 7, but it's possible that the supply of fresh jokes the screenwriters are able to derive from her unconventional methods has been exhausted. (A prolonged bout of humor may also have added a bit too much wackiness to the proceedings.) A shaken Mugino's encounter with the fortune-telling pet shop proprietress is an equally amusing sequence, particularly given how calm and collected the former usually is. Based on the humorous fake-out the episode pulls off in its final moments, it seems like we may be in for a much lighter installment next week—a reasonably safe assumption, given Kakashi's involvement.

A solid if restrained episode, this week's Boruto: Naruto Next Generations shows Team 7 at its lowest but also illustrates just how resilient these genin are. With Mitsuki still in recovery and Boruto and Sarada just beginning their intense training, we probably have a ways to go before the trio is able to avenge its defeat.

Rating:

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is an author who has loved anime for over two decades.


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